The Wild Thornberrys Review/Transcript
Nigel: 'Perhaps it's time once again for my patented "Nigel Thornberry Call of the Seagull"! What are the odds it'll fail again? *makes ear-grating seal sound* ''(Intro) Well, this one seems like a nice change of pace. After watching a couple of Nicktoons that had a largely interchangeable premise, we have one that actually did something a little bit offbeat. The Wild Thornberrys ''was a show about a family exploring the wilds of the world, because their father runs a documentary series. In some ways, it's one of the most unique of the Nicktoons. In other ways though, it has problems that do prevent it from being something ''truly special or unique. The show stars Eliza Thornberry, the daughter of the Thornberry family. She often gets into wacky hijinks with her chimpanzee, Darwin. I assume he's named as such because Eliza has made it her life's mission to disprove Darwin's theory of natural selection. Heh...this is gonna be an interesting show because it has...interesting problems, unique from any other Nicktoon. And that's that it tries to have its cake and eat it too when it comes to realism and fantasy. One of the premises of the show is that Eliza has the ability to talk to animals, provided that she doesn't tell any human beings that she can do so. I assume that the animals are allowed to know. At the start of the series, this is actually ''really''' underutilized believe it or not. In the very first episode, Eliza doesn't talk to animals for like the first half of it, and even after that, it barely affects the episode at all. This is one of the 'worst' things that you can do with an interesting premise, and that's just not use it. I mean talking to animals, it sounds like a cool power. But throughout the first season, Eliza 'barely 'talks to animals, and it only 'barely 'affects the plot most of the time. Sometimes, it doesn't affect the plot at all! Like the episode with the Komodo dragon. The only thing that talking to animals amounts to here is that, Eliza learns that the dragon is going to eat her. Which uh...you don't need to be able to talk to animals to learn that Komodo dragons, actually normally do not eat humans. I mean there have been incidents of them attacking and even killing humans, so, you know, don't go near them, but generally speaking they avoid interactions with humans. Let's just say that being able to understand animals, doesn't exactly make you understand animals. In many episodes, Eliza goes out of her way to try and interfere with the natural ecosystem that she encounters. In one episode, she gives finches tools in the Galapagos Islands that it destroys the food chain completely. One of the main messages of the show is that, just blindly trying to help the environment like Eliza often does, can lead to more harm. Removing an elephant from a preservation puts that risk for poachers for instance. It's...definitely a good moral and I'd like to see it done more, as opposed to the ''Captain Planet ''"Save the Rainforest!" bullshit. However, the 'characters 'suffer for this. I don't like to bring this up because it sounds just...a little bit too...pearl clutching...but there's something very uncomfortable about watching a girl from the first-world mess with indigenous ecosystems, doing what ''she ''thinks is best for them. This show is definitely about' not doing this, but the fact that she does it at all, repeatedly, can be a bit of a problem, and it can be a bit uncomfortable coming back to. Not helping the fact is that Eliza otherwise is not a very interesting character. She doesn't have much besides the "try to help nature but actually hurt it in the process." The problems with disregarding nature exist right down into the theme song, or, introduction I guess, it's not really a song. 'Eliza: '''There is Donnie. We found him. So, you found a child. A human child. And you just...decided to keep him. Same with the wild animal the chimpanzee. I cannot tell you how '''wrong '''this sounds. Yes, Donnie's parents were killed by poachers and they do make it seem more palatable ''eventually. But for the longest time, it makes it sound like Donnie is just this random kid that the family decided to take along. Now characters existing just to learn lessons ''can ''work, it's usually done in an educational show, like for preschoolers, but it can be done, but I wouldn't exactly trust this show on its educational merits. I mean, from what I could tell, they do tend to stay factual most of the time. Actually, it can get kind of awkward to how much fact spitting they do. Did you know that Komodo dragons smell with their tongues? Well, they do. The episode about a Komodo dragon will tell you this about ten times! And then he will go on telling you about each and every thing that's in his usual diet. It just spits facts without any sort of regard for flow. I mean I shouldn't be surprised considering ''The Wild Thornberrys ''was''' originally designed to be an educational show. I think they scrapped that idea because it would have been a hard sell for something not on Nick Jr. The facts, from what I can tell, do seem to be mostly accurate, although there is an occasional slip-up. Problem beyond that is that many of the animals in this show are more or less, anthropomorphized in order to communicate with Eliza, and the show is almost at war with itself because of this. I cannot stress this enough; if you are not a trained professional, it is a terrible ''idea to approach a wild animal. Any wild animal, in your own backyard, let alone in the jungles of Africa. This wouldn't be so much a problem, but the show ''is ''at conflict with itself. One part of it wants to be a little girl gets into wacky hijinks in the jungle, but the other part of it is that "We should take these animals in the cartoon seriously as animals. We're going to give you actual facts about how these animals really behave." These two things ''can ''go together, but it takes some ''very strong writing that this show does not have. Let's just say that it litters more than a few unfortunate implications on the jungle floor. Half of the time it wants to get into shenanigans, but the other half of the time it wants to be as realistic as Hey Arnold! ''You can't do that without causing some kind of jarring tone issue, or sacrificing the lessons that you're trying to teach. Making matters worse is that this show also has the ''Rugrats ''problem in spades. What's worse than constantly letting your infant children out of your sight and into a nuclear test facility? Well, how about this? Being parents who know '''everything '''about wild animals, and just being...okay with Eliza wandering into the jungle whenever the hell she wants, in some country that she's never been to before. Sure, I'm sure she'll be absolutely okay and not dead in two hours! I mean it's not like there's anything dangerous to an eight-year-old child. I'm sure she'll be A-OK! I mean, the last time I read a book about kids alone in the wilderness, it...it-it didn't go so well. But Eliza is special, for some reason. This isn't a world like ''Tomb Raider, where just average random person can just go into the jungle and survive [Caption: No, I don't think I'm taking this show too seriously. I'm only taking it as seriously as it's taking itself.]. They try and articulate that these animals and this world is real 'and the real world is incredibly dangerous. But speaking of ''Rugrats, Wild Thornberrys ''also has the Dil problem. Eliza can talk to any animal in the world that she wants to. Except for her adopted brother, Donnie. We hear what Darwin can say in plain English, but, Donnie, despite being a human being which is an animal, is always in basic cave-speak. Does this show not think that human beings are animals, or did they just think that "can't speak jungle kid" is funny, because...it's not. Donnie is not really fun or funny of a character, he adds nothing to the show. Except for that very, ''very ''awkward bit in the introduction. So it sounds like I was pretty sour on this one, and for the most part, I was. However there is one thing that makes me like this show. One little thing that actually redeems this show completely in my eyes. And if you've been on the internet in the past few years, you probably know exactly what that is. And that's the main man himself, Nigel Thornberry. '''Nigel: '''Marianne! Quickly! Come and see! '''Marianne: '''Is it the spider? '''Nigel: '''No. It's a rat! '''Marianne: '*gasps* *screams* A caterpillar? '''Nigel: '''Yes! Ah! Inching along like the world is afire! Ooh, look at him go! Nigel Thornberry has been known as a bit of a meme for his strange mannerisms, his weird appearance, and his British accent, done only in the way that Tim Curry could do. Here's the thing, you might think that his charm has been worn down from seeing out-of-context bits over and over again, but honestly, I have to say that he's a lot funnier in the show. That's because he has this...really genuine and well-defined character. He's not just a...meme-spouting weirdo. He actually has a real personality that really, really works. I'm going to say what everyone else says about this show; it should have been about Nigel Thornberry '''alone. I understand why it wasn't though. "Man makes nature documentary" doesn't sound like a fun idea for a show at all. It's actually a terrible ''concept for a show. But "a family goes around the world making nature documentaries while the daughter can speak to animals" is a great pitch. It's kind of why I hate the whole concept ''of a pitch to begin with. Some of the best ideas, the best shows and concepts in creations ever, are ones that are completely unpitchable. How do you pitch Bojack Horseman? "A man who is a horse used to be on a famous TV show. Sadness ensues." That sounds terrible! What about Adventure Time? Amazing World of Gumball? Regular Show? These are shows with very hard-to-pin-down base concepts, or concepts that change as time goes on, changing it from what was originally pitched. And sometimes, what sounds like a great pitch turns out mediocre, while what makes a terrible pitch actually makes a great show. As long as Nigel is completely the same and I guess you also brought along Marianne so he'd have someone to bounce off of, I think this show could have been something special, instead of the awkward little bit of weirdness that it is. Instead, we have a show that's largely fighting against itself and making a product that most people really ''aren't fond over. It's not the worst of shows, I certainly liked it more than say, ''Doug ''or ''CatDog. I could definitely watch this, like any episode to the end. I like a lot of the little touches here, like, at the end of the theme song it shows a bunch of maps of the world and the final one always shows their current location. That's a nice little detail that goes the extra mile. But a lot of really good ideas does not a good show make if they're all put together poorly, and this series does have a lot of good ideas...that are put together very, very ''poorly. There are some episodes later in the series' run that could be a bit of a tear-jerker, but if you can't get past the basic setup, and, I really can't, then chances are you're not gonna make it that far. And truth be told, I didn't. '''Announcer: '''Coming up, it's- ''(Clip of Rocket Power) Tourist: '''Is a fish taco ''shaped '''like a fish? ''(Cut to Raymundo making an awkward face) (End Credits Theme: The Wild Thornberrys Introduction) '''Eliza: '''This is me, Eliza Thornberry, part of your average family. I got a dad, a mom, and a sister. There is Donnie. We found him, and Darwin? He found us. Oh yeah, about our house, it moves. Cause we travel all over the world. You see, my dad hosts this nature show, and my mom shoots it. Okay, so we're not that average. And between you and me, something amazing happened! Category:Nick-o-Rama Category:Transcripts